April 1865 could have destroyed the nation. Instead it saved it. As April begins, the battered Confederate capital of Richmond falls to the Union Army. Robert E. Lee surrenders his forces to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox one week later. In good spirits and sensing the war's end, President Abraham Lincoln attends a comedic play - and is assassinated. Simultaneously, Secretary of State William Seward is brutally attacked but survives.

5 out of 5 stars

Excellence undone

By
LAUNA STOUT- Children&#39;sBooks.BellaOnline
on
05-15-17

The First Salute

A View of the American Revolution

By:
Barbara W. Tuchman

Narrated by:
Nadia May

Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
128

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
72

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
73

This compellingly written history presents a fresh, new view of the events that led from the first foreign salute to American nationhood in 1776 to the last campaign of the Revolution five years later. It paints a magnificent portrait of General George Washington and recounts in riveting detail the events responsible for the birth of our nation.

5 out of 5 stars

A brilliant classic

By
Matthew
on
03-27-09

Memoirs of General William T. Sherman

By:
William T. Sherman

Narrated by:
Bronson Pinchot

Length: 34 hrs and 55 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
48

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
46

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
46

First published in 1875, General William T. Sherman's memoir was one of the first from the Civil War and was offered to the public because, as Sherman wrote in his dedication, "no satisfactory history" of the war was yet available. Although Memoirs has been revised and corrected many times over the years, Sherman famously never changed the original text of his recollections.

5 out of 5 stars

essential American history

By
Patrick
on
04-20-18

Grant

By:
Ron Chernow

Narrated by:
Mark Bramhall

Length: 48 hrs and 1 min

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
3,313

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
3,026

Story

5 out of 5 stars
3,008

Ulysses S. Grant's life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is caricatured as a chronic loser and an inept businessman or as the triumphant but brutal Union general of the Civil War. But these stereotypes don't come close to capturing him, as Chernow sows in his masterful biography, the first to provide a complete understanding of the general and president whose fortunes rose and fell with dizzying speed and frequency.

5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Book (BUT WHERE IS THE PDF FILES)????

By
Amazon Customer
on
10-25-17

William Tecumseh Sherman

In the Service of My Country: A Life

By:
James Lee McDonough

Narrated by:
David Drummond

Length: 28 hrs and 32 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
520

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
477

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
474

General Sherman's 1864 burning of Atlanta solidified his legacy as a ruthless leader. Yet Sherman proved far more complex than his legendary military tactics reveal. James Lee McDonough offers fresh insight into a man tormented by the fear that history would pass him by, who was plagued by personal debts, and who lived much of his life separated from his family.

5 out of 5 stars

Very Fair and Balanced View of Sherman

By
IRP
on
12-02-16

American Ulysses

A Life of Ulysses S. Grant

By:
Ronald C. White

Narrated by:
Arthur Morey

Length: 27 hrs and 35 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
1,757

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
1,626

Story

5 out of 5 stars
1,616

A major new biography of the Civil War general and American president, by the author of the
New York Times bestseller
A. Lincoln. The dramatic story of one of America's greatest and most misunderstood military leaders and presidents, this is a major new interpretation of Ulysses S. Grant. Based on seven years of research with primary documents, some of them never tapped before, this is destined to become the Grant biography of our times.

5 out of 5 stars

An Absolutely Superb Work

By
Michael J. Nardotti, Jr.
on
11-05-16

April 1865

The Month That Saved America

By:
Professor Jay Winik

Narrated by:
Professor Jay Winik

Length: 16 hrs and 22 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
88

Performance

3.5 out of 5 stars
80

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
80

April 1865 could have destroyed the nation. Instead it saved it. As April begins, the battered Confederate capital of Richmond falls to the Union Army. Robert E. Lee surrenders his forces to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox one week later. In good spirits and sensing the war's end, President Abraham Lincoln attends a comedic play - and is assassinated. Simultaneously, Secretary of State William Seward is brutally attacked but survives.

5 out of 5 stars

Excellence undone

By
LAUNA STOUT- Children&#39;sBooks.BellaOnline
on
05-15-17

The First Salute

A View of the American Revolution

By:
Barbara W. Tuchman

Narrated by:
Nadia May

Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
128

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
72

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
73

This compellingly written history presents a fresh, new view of the events that led from the first foreign salute to American nationhood in 1776 to the last campaign of the Revolution five years later. It paints a magnificent portrait of General George Washington and recounts in riveting detail the events responsible for the birth of our nation.

5 out of 5 stars

A brilliant classic

By
Matthew
on
03-27-09

Memoirs of General William T. Sherman

By:
William T. Sherman

Narrated by:
Bronson Pinchot

Length: 34 hrs and 55 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
48

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
46

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
46

First published in 1875, General William T. Sherman's memoir was one of the first from the Civil War and was offered to the public because, as Sherman wrote in his dedication, "no satisfactory history" of the war was yet available. Although Memoirs has been revised and corrected many times over the years, Sherman famously never changed the original text of his recollections.

5 out of 5 stars

essential American history

By
Patrick
on
04-20-18

Grant

By:
Ron Chernow

Narrated by:
Mark Bramhall

Length: 48 hrs and 1 min

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
3,313

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
3,026

Story

5 out of 5 stars
3,008

Ulysses S. Grant's life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is caricatured as a chronic loser and an inept businessman or as the triumphant but brutal Union general of the Civil War. But these stereotypes don't come close to capturing him, as Chernow sows in his masterful biography, the first to provide a complete understanding of the general and president whose fortunes rose and fell with dizzying speed and frequency.

5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Book (BUT WHERE IS THE PDF FILES)????

By
Amazon Customer
on
10-25-17

William Tecumseh Sherman

In the Service of My Country: A Life

By:
James Lee McDonough

Narrated by:
David Drummond

Length: 28 hrs and 32 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
520

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
477

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
474

General Sherman's 1864 burning of Atlanta solidified his legacy as a ruthless leader. Yet Sherman proved far more complex than his legendary military tactics reveal. James Lee McDonough offers fresh insight into a man tormented by the fear that history would pass him by, who was plagued by personal debts, and who lived much of his life separated from his family.

5 out of 5 stars

Very Fair and Balanced View of Sherman

By
IRP
on
12-02-16

American Ulysses

A Life of Ulysses S. Grant

By:
Ronald C. White

Narrated by:
Arthur Morey

Length: 27 hrs and 35 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
1,757

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
1,626

Story

5 out of 5 stars
1,616

A major new biography of the Civil War general and American president, by the author of the
New York Times bestseller
A. Lincoln. The dramatic story of one of America's greatest and most misunderstood military leaders and presidents, this is a major new interpretation of Ulysses S. Grant. Based on seven years of research with primary documents, some of them never tapped before, this is destined to become the Grant biography of our times.

5 out of 5 stars

An Absolutely Superb Work

By
Michael J. Nardotti, Jr.
on
11-05-16

Grant Moves South

By:
Bruce Catton

Narrated by:
Bronson Pinchot

Length: 17 hrs and 57 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
64

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
60

Story

5 out of 5 stars
60

A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian's acclaimed Civil War history of the complex man and controversial Union commander whose battlefield brilliance ensured the downfall of the Confederacy. Preeminent Civil War historian Bruce Catton narrows his focus on commander Ulysses S. Grant, whose bold tactics and relentless dedication to the Union ultimately ensured a Northern victory in the nation's bloodiest conflict.

5 out of 5 stars

catton at his best

By
JLayland
on
05-22-18

The American Heritage History of World War I

By:
S. L. A. Marshall

Narrated by:
Bernard Mayes

Length: 19 hrs and 1 min

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
55

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
47

Story

4 out of 5 stars
48

Drawing on a lifetime of military experience, Brigadier General S. L. A. Marshall, "one of our most distinguished military writers" (
New York Times), delivers this unflinching history of the war that was supposed to end all wars. From the perspective of more than half a century, Marshall examines the blunders and complacency that turned what everyone thought would be a brief campaign and an easy victory into a relentless four-year slaughter that left 10 million dead and 20 million wounded.

4 out of 5 stars

WW1 from American point of view

By
Jean
on
10-19-12

Rebel Yell

The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson

By:
S. C. Gwynne

Narrated by:
Cotter Smith

Length: 24 hrs and 57 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
1,476

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
1,337

Story

5 out of 5 stars
1,337

General Stonewall Jackson was like no one anyone had ever seen. In April of 1862 he was merely another Confederate general with only a single battle credential in an army fighting in what seemed to be a losing cause. By middle June he had engineered perhaps the greatest military campaign in American history and was one of the most famous men in the Western World. He had given the Confederate cause what it had recently lacked: hope.

5 out of 5 stars

A very good read

By
rhl60
on
11-05-14

The Things Our Fathers Saw

The Untold Stories of the World War II Generation from Hometown, USA - Voices of the Pacific Theater

By:
Matthew A. Rozell

Narrated by:
Hillary Huber,
Sean Runnette

Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
63

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
54

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
55

At the height of World War II,
LOOK Magazine profiled a small American community for a series of articles portraying it as the wholesome, patriotic model of life on the home front. Decades later, author Matthew A. Rozell tracks down over 30 survivors who fought the war in the Pacific, from Pearl Harbor to the surrender at Tokyo Bay. The book resurrects firsthand accounts of combat and brotherhood, of captivity and redemption, and the aftermath of a war.

5 out of 5 stars

Very powerful

By
Anonymous User
on
06-17-17

A Country of Vast Designs

James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent

By:
Robert W. Merry

Narrated by:
Michael Prichard

Length: 19 hrs and 6 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
275

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
208

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
211

When James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, the United States was locked in a bitter diplomatic struggle with Britain over the rich lands of the Oregon Territory, which included what is now Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Texas, not yet part of the Union, was threatened by a more powerful Mexico. And the territories north and west of Texas---what would become California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Colorado---belonged to Mexico.

5 out of 5 stars

History Repeats

By
Todd Gangl Usnik
on
06-12-12

Lincoln's Lieutenants

The High Command of the Army of the Potomac

By:
Stephen W. Sears

Narrated by:
George Guidall

Length: 32 hrs and 2 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
62

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
60

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
60

The high command of the Army of the Potomac was a changeable, often dysfunctional band of brothers, going through the fires of war under seven commanding generals in three years, until Grant came east in 1864. The men in charge all too frequently appeared to be fighting against the administration in Washington instead of for it, increasingly cast as political pawns facing down a vindictive congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War.

3 out of 5 stars

Good, but not what I thought

By
Paul S.
on
08-10-17

Behind Japanese Lines

With the OSS in Burma

By:
Richard Dunlop

Narrated by:
David Baker

Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
35

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
32

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
31

The extraordinary firsthand account of an American special forces unit in the jungles of southeast Asia and their guerilla operations against the Japanese during World War II!

5 out of 5 stars

The OSS in Burma

By
William R. Toddmancillas
on
08-03-14

Terrible Swift Sword

The Life of General Philip H. Sheridan

By:
Joseph Wheelan

Narrated by:
R. C. Bray

Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
44

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
41

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
42

Alongside Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, Philip H. Sheridan is the least known of the triumvirate of generals most responsible for winning the Civil War. Yet, before Sherman's famous march through Georgia, it was General Sheridan who introduced scorched-earth warfare to the South, and it was his Cavalry Corps that compelled Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. Sheridan's innovative cavalry tactics and "total war" strategy became staples of 20th-century warfare.

4 out of 5 stars

Full of history but just a little long

By
Dennis
on
09-17-13

Nathan Bedford Forrest

A Biography

By:
Jack Hurst

Narrated by:
Jeff Riggenbach

Length: 16 hrs and 55 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
203

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
161

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
160

In this detailed and fascinating account of the legend of the "Wizard of the Saddle," we see a man whose strengths and flaws were both of towering proportions, a man possessed of physical valor perhaps unprecedented among his countrymen. And, ironically, Forrest - the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan - was a man whose social attitudes may well have changed farther in the direction of racial enlightenment over the span of his lifetime than those of most American historical figures.

4 out of 5 stars

Dry but Thorough

By
Justin Swihart
on
07-21-12

R. E. Lee: Volume One

By:
Douglas Southall Freeman

Narrated by:
Charlton Griffin

Length: 23 hrs and 36 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
9

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
9

Story

5 out of 5 stars
9

R. E. Lee by Douglas Southall Freeman was the recipient of the 1935 Pulitzer Prize for Literature. It was a richly deserved honor, for Freeman's biography of the distinguished Virginian went on to become one of the most celebrated of all American biographies, a favorite of General George Marshall and President Dwight Eisenhower, among many others. Since his death, thousands of American soldiers have sought to emulate Lee's example of virtue, courage, and duty.

4 out of 5 stars

From The First Day To Just Before The Seven Days

By
Joshua
on
02-13-18

The Impending Crisis

America Before the Civil War: 1848-1861

By:
David M. Potter,
Don E. Fehrenbacher

Narrated by:
Eric Martin

Length: 22 hrs and 41 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
112

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
97

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
96

David M. Potter's Pulitzer Prize-winning
The Impending Crisis is the definitive history of antebellum America. Potter's sweeping epic masterfully charts the chaotic forces that climaxed with the outbreak of the Civil War: westward expansion, the divisive issue of slavery, the Dred Scott decision, John Brown's uprising, the ascension of Abraham Lincoln, and the drama of Southern secession.

5 out of 5 stars

Great History Book

By
Jose
on
10-07-17

Mr. Lincoln's Army

By:
Bruce Catton

Narrated by:
Kevin T. Collins

Length: 17 hrs and 20 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
72

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
63

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
63

A magnificent history of the opening years of the Civil War by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Bruce Catton. The first book in Bruce Catton's Pulitzer Prize-winning Army of the Potomac Trilogy, Mr. Lincoln's Army is a riveting history of the early years of the Civil War, when a fledgling Union Army took its stumbling first steps under the command of the controversial general George McClellan.

3 out of 5 stars

Very poor reader with great material

By
L or D Day
on
07-28-16

Publisher's Summary

With a unique, witty, and conversational voice historian Robert O'Connell breaks down the often paradoxical, easily caricatured character of General William T. Sherman for the most well-rounded portrait of the man yet written. There were many Shermans, according to O'Connell. Most prominently was Sherman the military strategist (indeed, one of the greatest strategists of all time), who gained an appreciation of geography from early campaigns out west and applied it to his famed Civil War march. Then there was "Uncle Billy", Sherman's popular persona, the charismatic and beloved leader of the Army of the West, and instrumental in the achievement of the transcontinental railroad in his post-war years. This Sherman, as O'Connell writes, was "the human embodiment of manifest destiny". From north to south and east to west, Sherman dedicated his life to keeping the United States united. Finally, there was Sherman the family man, whose tempestuous relationship with his wife (and stepsister!) Ellen is out of a Dickens novel. Throughout, O'Connell breaks down the misperceptions about Sherman, bolstered both by contemporary journalists and by the work of modern historians. O'Connell makes a compelling case that Sherman's march through the south was not a campaign of unmitigated destruction, but a necessary piece of strategy and the perceived chaos has been overblown. O'Connell's Sherman is ultimately a complicated and quintessential 19th-century American. Robert O' Connell worked as Senior Analyst at the U.S. Army Intelligence Agency's Foreign Science and Technology Center and was a contributing editor to MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History.

One of the best

I found this book very captivating. I have listened to it twice. Sherman won the civil war, or greatly assisted in ending it. He was a military genius who wanted and was successful in disgracing and humiliating the southern plantation owners. The march was genius. His dislike of the media and war itself is part of the mystique.

An interesting biography

William Tecumseh Sherman was born in 1820 in Ohio. His family nicknamed was “Cump”. He was the grandson of Roger Sherman of Connecticut a signer of the Declaration of Independence and one of the architects of the Constitution. WTS’s father moved to Ohio in 1811 and set up a legal practice. He fathered eleven children and died unexpectedly in 1829. WTC was adopted by Thomas Ewing a friend of his fathers and a wealthy lawyer and politician. Sherman’s brother John Sherman became a lawyer and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from Ohio during the Civil War and after.

The first part of the book covers Sherman’s early life, his time at West point (1836) and his career in the army. The section that covers the Civil War is extremely detailed. In the Civil War Sherman was assigned to serve under Major General Ulysses S. Grant, they fought together at Shiloh, Vicksburg and Chattanooga. Sherman was promoted to Major General and turned loose by Grant in 1864, with an independent command, to rip out the logistical innards of the Confederacy. O’Connell goes into meticulous detail in Sherman’s “March to the Sea”. This is the largest part of the book and the most through.

The middle of the book covers Sherman’s career from after the Civil war to retirement. WTS was made General in Chief of the Army when Grant became President. WTS over saw the Westward expansion of the Nation, including the building of infrastructure such as roads, railroads and protecting settlers.

The last part of the book covers WTS personal and family life. He married Ellen Ewing his adopted sister. They had seven children. His wife travel with him to some post but preferred to stay at her father’s home in Ohio most often. They had seven children, one son became a priest must to the dismay of Sherman. Ellen was a devoted catholic but Sherman was a Calvinist. Ellen died in 1888. O’Connell does cover some of the affairs and mistress of Sherman. No biographer, including O’Connell has made the marriage come fully to life, or his well known womanizing. This section of the book is under developed.

Robert L. O’Connell has a Ph.D. in History and spent thirty years as an analyst at the National Ground Intelligent Center. Currently he is a visiting Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School and author of numerous military books. O’Connell takes a fresh viewpoint from other writers I have read on Sherman to date. The book is well worth the read for those interested in Civil War history or in general history. Andrew Garman did an excellent job narrating the book.